Natixis Increases Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Natixis raised its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 518.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,490 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,401 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Nutrien were worth $1,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,781,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,012,000 after buying an additional 570,912 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,331,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,381,000 after buying an additional 239,578 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 12,017,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,928,000 after buying an additional 1,960,162 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,571,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,816,000 after buying an additional 50,369 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 9,226,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,309,000 after buying an additional 2,050,358 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.6 %

NTR traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $50.75. 1,747,824 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,887,559. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.94. The company has a market cap of $25.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $47.86 and a fifty-two week high of $69.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Nutrien had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised shares of Nutrien from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.63.

Nutrien Profile

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.